Old Abe

Visitors should be warned that several of the words, descriptions, and images from Harper's Weekly are considered racially offensive by today's standards. The materials are presented in order to give a true historical picture of the leading 19th-century newspaper's view of black Americans.

OLD ABE was a genuine live eagle, which the standard-bearer of the regiment carried aloft, chained to his perch, into the hottest of the fight. When the battle raged most fiercely, and the enthusiasm of the soldiers was at its highest, then, it was that "OLD ABE" seemed to be in his own element. He flapped his wings in the midst of the furious storm, and, with head erect, faced the flying bullets and the crashing shells with no signs of fear.